Biting Frost
by Green Monkie
Summary: An AU on how Logan and Marie met. PG-13 because of some themes. Not exactly fairytale material. Please read and review


A/N: this is a AU on how Logan and Marie met.  
  
When she walked into that bar. She expected it to be like every other bar she'd sat in. Rednecks sitting at the Bar and around tables, arguing over who won the last poker game. A bartender that seriously needed to look up the words "Razor" and "Toothbrush" in their dictionary (assuming they could read) then consider buying one.  
  
A few perverts, trying to see if she would do them personal favours. She always denied, but there were always a few persistent ones. They didn't last for long.  
  
But this bar was different. Apart from the fact that there was a massive cage in the middle of the room. Inside two men ripping and tearing at each other, all for a few hundred bucks.  
  
She sat down at the bar, keeping her hood covering her head in an attempt to hold off the perverts for at least a few minutes. The bartender was the same as all the others. Toothless, scruffy and impatient. She ordered an Orange juice and stared at the cage.  
  
One man was smoking a Cigar in one corner, looking towards her and away from his opponent. He was looking directly at her, as though he could tell who she was.  
  
She shuddered and looked away, picking up the orange juice that had been placed in front of her. She took a sip. The tangy juice slipped down her parched throat. She finished it all in one gulp. She slipped a couple of notes at the bartender. She didn't have much money left $10 maybe.  
  
She had spent so long pondering how much money she had left that she didn't notice the man come up behind her.  
  
"Well, ain't you a pretty darlin'" He growled into her ear, pulling her hood down off her face. "Why don't you came out back with me." He reached his hand around the front of her chest and groped one of her breasts.  
  
She shuddered and pushed him away. The man didn't seem to notice. He just moved back closer to her. Pushing himself so hard against her that she felt a hardness in his pants pressing into her waist. "Feisty are we?" He muttered grabbing her round the waist, pulling her harder against him. "You'll be good in bed."  
  
He traced his finger along her shoulder and down her arm, which was pinned to her side. "So young.So." He spun her stool around so that he could see her face. "Pure."  
  
Now the girl was shuddering uncontrollably. No matter how many times it happened to her, it never got any worse.  
  
The man was pushing her back into the counter. She let out quiet whimper. So soft that not even the man who was pushing himself against her heard it.  
  
Not many people were left in the bar now. The fight had ended; people were filing out of the bar quickly. The bartender didn't seem to notice, or care that the man was harassing her.  
  
"Now darlin' I want you to stand up and walk outside. Try anything, and it'll be a whole lot worse." He whispered venomously into her ear.  
  
She did as he said, standing up slowly. Unfortunately he was still pressed up against her. He also had one hard gripping hard on her waist, preventing her from running, and the other gripping her wrist painfully hard. She took a few shaky steps forward, until he stopped for some reason.  
  
"Let her go bub." A voice growled from behind the man. He did as the voice said, releasing his tight hold. She took a few steps away from him and turned back to see why he had let go.  
  
The man from the cage had a blade pressed up against the other man's neck. It was pressed so hard that a slight trickle of blood was running down the man's neck.  
  
"I don't think the Lady wishes to be in your presence, so I suggest you leave her alone. Unless you wish to have an unfortunate accident." He growled into the man's ear.  
  
"Ok, I'll leave her alone, I promise, just don't hurt me." The man whimpered.  
  
The Cage man pushed the other man away, so hard that the man fell on the ground. The blade he had used, mysteriously disappeared. He spat at the man who was crawling slowly away from him.  
  
He finally looked up at her. "You alright darlin'?"  
  
She nodded quickly and muttered a small thanks. She hurried out the door as quickly as she could, before the cage man could say anything else or the creepy guy could try anything else. Not that he would do anything while the Cage man was there.  
  
A small tear slid down her face as she looked around for a mode of transport. She spotted a Caravan with a small trailer on the back. That would do. She ran over there quickly and hopped in. She covered herself with her green cloak, and hoped that the owner wouldn't notice they had a passenger.  
  
She didn't have to wait long for the Trailer to move. 10 minutes maybe. It wasn't a particularly calm and peaceful ride but somehow she managed to fall asleep.  
  
***  
  
He stopped the Caravan. It was going slower than usual. Someone had dumped something in his trailer again.  
  
He opened the door and made his way back to the trailer.  
  
He noticed it straight away. The lump that wasn't there before. He lifted up the canvas cover that was on his trailer, to see the body of a Girl. He pulled her hood back, to reveal a sleeping girl. The same girl that he had saved from that dirty bastard back at the bar.  
  
He poked her, but she didn't wake up. He poked her harder this time, but she still didn't wake. Then he saw the colour of her lips. Blue. She was freezing.  
  
Stupid girl he cursed to himself, didn't she know it was dangerous to fall asleep in the cold. He picked up her cold body and carried her into his caravan. He was surprised how light she was. Couldn't be much heavier than a 12 year old.  
  
He sniffed her. She hadn't eaten much in a few days, only fluids. She was starving and freezing. A deadly mix.  
  
He placed her on his bed and grabbed a few blankets off the floor. He spread them over her, so that maybe they would retain what little heat she had left. He turned on the gas heater in the corner of the room. It didn't create much heat anymore. It was an old heater, but at least it was something.  
  
He moved back over to the bed. She was breathing slowly, but at least she was breathing. He put his hand on her forehead to see how cold she really was, but felt the strangest sensation ever. Like he was being sucked into her. He pulled away sharply, but he felt extremely woozy afterwards. It took all his strength not to fall asleep on the bed next to her.  
  
It took a minute for him to regain all of his strength, but when it did come back he looked at the girl again. Her skin wasn't quite so pale and cold looking. Colour was beginning to seep back into her fine features. Her breathing was slowly gathering speed. She even stirred slightly.  
  
She's a mutant? He thought to himself. It was the only real answer that could be given that made any sense. It made a few other things add up, like why she was up in Canada, all by herself, hitchhiking all around. Starving half to death. Caught in the biting frost.  
  
She stirred again, but this time she rolled over. Her eyes slowly began to open, a frown flitting across her face, when she didn't recognise her surroundings. She looked up at him, and a scared look replaced the one of puzzlement.  
  
She gripped the blankets up close to her chin "Where am Ah? Why am Ah here? Who are you?" She squeaked in a soft southern voice.  
  
He stood up and went over to the makeshift kitchen in the other corner of his van. "You are in my caravan. You're here because I found you half starved, half freezing to death, in my trailer. How you got there I don't know darlin'. As for who I am. You can call me Logan."  
  
She looked slight taken aback by how he answered her questions. He handed her a glass of water, which she took warily, and took a small sip. "Now you answer my questions." He growled at her. She nodded carefully, taking another sip.  
  
"What are you doing up here all by yourself?"  
  
She turned away from his gaze. "Mah parents kicked meh out," she said softly.  
  
"Cos' of your mutation?" He asked quietly. She looked back at him sharply.  
  
"How do you know about that?" She yelled at him, jumping up on the bed, still holding the blankets, glass of water going flying across the room, where it smashed against a cupboard.  
  
"No need to get angry bout it bub. I'm not gonna hold it against ya. I touched your skin and guesswork did the rest. " He explained gently. She didn't calm down, as though she didn't believe him. He didn't blame her though, he understood her cautiousness. Even if it was a bit extreme.  
  
"How old are you?" He pushed, still trying to get some answers.  
  
"17 or so," She shrugged, "Don't know exactly, haven't been keepin' track of it."  
  
"What's your name?  
  
She hesitated for a bit. "Marie."  
  
"Marie eh?" he pondered. "Where ya headed?"  
  
She shrugged. "Ah was just hitchin' a ride somewhere, didn't really care where. Maybe Ah can get to Toronto eventually, and Ah might get a job there."  
  
"No your not, you're coming with me." He said finally.  
  
"You can't make me." She said defiantly, glaring at him.  
  
"You're right, I can't." He growled again. Using the same voice he had used against the guy in the bar. "But you don't exactly have a real choice here do you? We're in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm."  
  
"Ah can last much longer than you think Ah can." She hissed at him.  
  
"I'd like to see you try. Even I can't stay out there for very long and I can last a lot longer than you ever would be able to." He growled back. He was starting to tire of this situation.  
  
"Listen, Ah appreciate what you did for meh back at that bar, even though Ah could've handled that guy. But that doesn't mean you have to go all protective of meh. I've been living by myself out there since I was 15. I know how to protect myself." She said finally. Stressing all of the words in her last sentence.  
  
She jumped off the bed and made towards the door. Logan took a few steps and blocked the doorway.  
  
She death stared him. "Don't force me, I will leave this Caravan whether you like it or not." To prove her point, she removed one of her leather gloves, revealing her pale hand.  
  
He didn't budge, so she stomped on his foot, which shocked him just long enough for her to lightly tap his cheek.  
  
Just that soft contact was all she needed. He stumbled a bit, as though he had lost his balance. Taking advantage of his stupor, she walked straight past him and out the door.  
  
She didn't admit it, but it was cold outside. And there was a blizzard, or the beginnings of one blowing around. She didn't care. She stomped over to the trailer and retrieved her pack. By then Logan had recovered and had made his way outside the caravan.  
  
He yelled at her to come back, but she pretended not to know him, and just kept walking.  
  
All of a sudden, something brown shot out from the trees, and headed towards Marie. She didn't notice it, But Logan did. He ran as fast as he could and tackled the thing in midair, just before it was about to hit her.  
  
This time she did notice it. A large cat like man was circling Logan. Logan looked murderous. He threw his hands out to each side, and three blades on each hand shot out from between his knuckles.  
  
So that's where those blades had appeared from. Marie stared at Logan. He looked downright dangerous. Not someone she wanted to get in a fight with. In fact, she didn't want to stay around watching them fight either.  
  
She took off at a run, in the opposite direction of the Cat Man and Logan, straight into the woods. The forest wasn't that thick, so she didn't have to worry about running into any trees. However the floor was very uneven and slippery because of the snow.  
  
She kept running for about 500 meters but lost her footing when it got to a rocky patch. She slipped over hard, and landed awkwardly on her arm. A sharp stabbing pain ran the whole way through her wrist causing tears to spring to her eyes. She managed to glance down at it, but regretted it as it was bent at a sickeningly unnatural angle.  
  
She swallowed back a bought of nausea, and tried to stand up again. She got there eventually, and began to walk forwards again. She held her arm close into her chest, careful not to move it or bump it.  
  
She didn't get far. A man was standing in her way. He was one of the ugliest men she had ever seen. and she had seen many. He looked remarkably like a toad, which was proved when he shot a glob of goo at her. It hit her in the eyes, blinding her. Immediately she could feel it hardening against her face, becoming rock solid.  
  
Instinctively her hands went up to her face, to try and remove it, but that just caused her injured wrist to throb harder, so badly that it gave her a headache.  
  
Someone or something grabbed her by the waist and started pulling her roughly in a direction she couldn't see. She assumed it was the Toad man. She screamed and kicked trying to get away from his grip, but all that did was aggravate her wrist.  
  
Unexpectedly she was dropped on the ground. From what she could hear some sort of commotion was occurring around her. She didn't like the sound of it, so she began to crawl, using only one of her arms away from all the noise.  
  
She didn't get far.  
  
Luckily the sound around her died down, to only the sounds of the storm. If that was a good thing. That was until she heard the footsteps. The hard thudding footsteps of someone running towards her.  
  
Scared she began to take the glove of her good hand off with her teeth, so that she could protect herself.  
  
"Are you ok?" A male voice asked, not far from her.  
  
She didn't answer. Only tried to edge backwards, but a tree got in her way.  
  
"If you hold still, I can get that stuff off your face." The same voice said, this time from closer to her.  
  
She didn't know whether to trust him or not, but did as he said anyway, in hope that as soon as he removed it, she could run if needed.  
  
Something hot hit her face and cracked the hardened goo. She peeled it away from her face and looked up at the man who had helped her.  
  
A man who looked about 25 was standing there, with a visor in front of his eyes. He seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform. It made him look a bit strange, but he didn't seem to be evil.  
  
"Hello Marie, I'm Cyclops, or Scott." He greeted, grabbing her good wrist with his gloved hand. He nodded at her broken wrist. "We can fix that up if you come with us."  
  
She glanced behind him; he didn't seem to have any other people with him. "Who's we?"  
  
"Come with me and I'll show you," he said in a nice friendly voice. He led the way back through the forest that she had run through. She reluctantly followed, keeping her distance, still cradling her arm. It was beginning to lose all feeling.  
  
They made it back to the road and saw a lady with dark skin and stark white hair tending to an unconscious Logan. She was wearing a similar uniform to the one that Cyclops was wearing, but her's had a cape. She turned to see them emerge from the woods.  
  
"That's Storm, she'll help you with your wrist." Cyclops said to her.  
  
Logan had a large gash across the side of his face, but she watched in amazement as it healed quickly right in front of their eyes.  
  
"Who are you?" she whispered looking from Logan to Cyclops to Storm.  
  
"We're the X men."  
  
*** And I'm done.  
  
Well that didn't take long! I'm surprised. Anyways, reviews and comments would be very much appreciated:) 


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